Net domestic migration by state, July 2020 to July 2025

What this dataset measures

The Census Bureau's annual population estimates are the official between-census measure of state population change, and they split migration into domestic (between states) and international. Five full estimate years since the 2020 Census show the post-pandemic pattern. Rates per 1,000 residents let small and large states be compared.

Geography

United States

Unit of observation

State (50 states and the District of Columbia)

Update cadence

Annual; the Census Bureau releases a new vintage each December and revises earlier years

Curator

FactHub Research Team

Curated data tables

These related tables form this versioned dataset release. Each table has its own downloadable file and field definitions.

Net domestic migration by state, 2020-2025

Five-year net domestic migration for the 50 states and DC, sorted by rate per 1,000 residents.

Unit of observation: State

View this table

state-domestic-migration-2020-2025.csv text/csv · 2.4 KB (2,410 bytes)

7 field definitions

Field	Type	Meaning	Units	Value type
fips	string	Two-digit state FIPS code.	—	observed
usps	string	USPS state abbreviation.	—	derived
state	string	State name as the source gives it.	—	observed
pop_2020	integer	Resident population estimate, July 1, 2020.	people	estimated
pop_2025	integer	Resident population estimate, July 1, 2025.	people	estimated
net_domestic_migration_2020_2025	integer	People who moved in from other states minus people who moved out to other states, July 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025.	people	estimated
per_1000_residents	number	Five-year net domestic migration per 1,000 residents of the state in 2020.	people per 1,000 residents	derived

Saved analyses

Sources

1. U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025: Annual Estimates of the Resident Population and Components of Change for the United States, Regions, States, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico (NST-EST2025-ALLDATA) Domestic migration and population by state and year, July 2020 to July 2025

   Retrieved November 8, 2026. U.S. government work, public domain. Public domain; the Census Bureau asks to be cited as the source

   Reliability: Government. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program estimates each state's population every year between censuses. Domestic migration is estimated mainly from changes in addresses on federal tax returns, Medicare enrollment and Social Security records. The source file is 53,555 bytes, SHA-256 92188e29cb0a67dcf95afa7d6c47359409782f086478b70ea4128eb70e223ca9, as retrieved.

License: FactHub's selection, cleaning and combined tables are licensed under CC BY 4.0. Source data keeps the terms listed above (terms).

Limitations and reproducibility

Reproducible: Sum DOMESTICMIG2021 through DOMESTICMIG2025 for each state row (SUMLEV 040) in NST-EST2025-ALLDATA.csv, and divide by POPESTIMATE2020 times 1,000. The state values sum to exactly zero, as net domestic migration must.

• Net domestic migration is moves in from other states minus moves out to other states; it says nothing about where movers came from or went, or why.
• International migration is excluded, so a state can lose residents to other states and still grow (California and New York both gained international migrants).
• These are estimates built from IRS tax-return addresses, Medicare enrollment and other administrative records, not a count, and each new vintage revises earlier years.
• The rate's denominator is the July 1, 2020 population estimate.
• Puerto Rico is excluded.